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Friday, August 6, 2010

Meet Sharla the mind behind My Little Gems...if you haven't already. This is one of those blogs that has it all, recipes to fun kid activities, craft ideas and more! I think my boy's and I are going to make this tomorrow, so cute! And who doesn't love a ruffle pillow...especially when there is a tutorial for it! Sharla made this darling Mr. Roboto quilt for her third son:

A few years ago, while in Utah, my home state, I visited American Quilting. I loved just about everything in the store! The fabrics for this quilt were on the wall, and they sold a little quilt kit to make this quilt. I was pregnant at the time, and planned to make this quilt for my baby, and use it as an inspiration to decorate the nursery. I bought the kit and backing fabric for this quilt- along with several others. :) Well things did not go as planned. Shortly after that trip, I found out the baby I was carrying had some complications. He had some unknown kidney problems, which would probably mean an early delivery so that the specialists could figure out what was going on.

Sure enough, after many tests and ultrasounds, we had our baby at 37 1/2 weeks, early for me. Obviously the quilt never got finished. After our little boy was born (my 3rd boy), we immediately had to see specialists, get tests done, etc. He ended up having surgery at 2 months old, and was hospitalized from an infection at 3 months old.

Finally, months later things calmed down. Mr. Robot was calling me to finish him, but because I waited so long, I decided to add more to the quilt. After seeing this same quilt done with a striped border instead of just striped binding, I went on a search for more of the striped fabric. It was hard to find. The fabric was out of print and basically sold out everywhere. When I finally found some, I was able to complete the quilt. yay! Thanks to the cute ladies at American Quilting, and Amy from Diary of a Quilter, for the inspiration! It was actually a good thing that I wasn't able to finish this quilt any sooner, because I love it even more- with the extra striped border. This quilt is one of our favorites. My children play on this just about everyday. It was my first attempt at off-set squares. I have made several quilts from this same design since then. I have really grown to love quilting, although it isn't my forte, there is something wonderful about completing a quilt, and seeing your children love it to pieces.

As for our baby, well he is just fine. He has managed to maintain his health, and will be having another surgery at the age of two. Hopefully his last surgery. And in the meantime, I have several other "boy" quilts to finish. ☺

Thanks so much Sharla for sharing this darling quilt. Glad to hear that adorable baby is doing well, and we will pray that the next surgery will be his last. God bless!

thanks for the feature and nice comments. (Although Amy from Diary of a Quilter deserves the credit;))Reading this story myself- really touched me-to see the progress in his little life since then. That baby boy -who is much older now- smiles and giggles every time he sees this quilt. We play on it everyday. How wonderful quilting is!